Arizona kicks off swing-state early voting

What happened

Early voting kicked off in Arizona on Wednesday, making it the first of seven key battleground states to start casting ballots in the 2024 election. The Kamala Harris and Donald Trump campaigns sent their vice presidential nominees, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) and Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), to rally supporters in the state to get their votes in early.

Who said what

Walz visited a Veterans of Foreign Wars post and met with tribal leaders near Phoenix Wednesday then held a campaign rally in Tucson where he blamed Trump for blocking an immigration deal because solving the border issue "was an electoral problem for him." Vance held a morning rally in Tucson then attended a Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) forum in Mesa. He claimed the federal Hurricane Helene response was hindered by Harris' "incompetence," CNN said, and "falsely accused" FEMA of spending disaster relief funds on illegal immigrants.

Arizona, "with its 15 Electoral College votes, has no clear favorite in the presidential race," The New York Times said, though Trump holds a "slight lead" in the state, which he lost by fewer than 11,000 votes in 2020. Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes yesterday urged voters to cast their ballots early, because it "helps us get our results in earlier."

What next?

Harris is scheduled to hold a rally in Phoenix on Thursday while Trump has one planned 90 miles north in Prescott Valley on Saturday. Early in-person voting begins next week in four other swing states : Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and North Carolina.